Selkie103

I’ve been getting the Thursday comics done at the wire the last couple weeks. Tomorrow (well, today since this will post on Thursday) I finish my final exams. One of my summer goals is to try and get ahead on the webcomic again. But yay, summer! 😀

I used to work phone support for a cable company, and have done cold-calls for market research surveys. So I feel I’ve earned the right to make telemarketer jokes. Soldier on, brave comrades! Remember to keep your helmet on and your head down. Some of the more virulent slurs use hollow-point rounds.

Oh, and NEVER utter the phrase “please calm down.” That will be the death of you.

Discussion (68) ¬

I did telefundraising. It wasn’t technically cold calling but that didn’t mean the people were happy to hear from us.

That said, I am kind of surprised that he doesn’t know why she’s caaaallll-oh god no. Okay, I’m keeping that idea under the hat. Anyway, yeah, I’m surprised he doesn’t know what she wants. I assumed she was a crazy bitch who wanted him back and was inching towards stalker.

Well, it’s possible that he talked to her once or twice – when she started calling – and thought that he’d resolved whatever she said the issue was…until she kept calling. So now he just has no clue any more, and no interest in engaging her.

I suppose it’s possible, but after six months or nearly so, it seems a bit late to start calling. Unless it’s been born and it’s time for paternity tests. I hope that isn’t where this is heading but if it is, so be it!

Not trying to be rude or anything, just want to throw some information at your face for your future endeavors.
What you probably mean is “patent pending,” which means you’ve applied for a patent (a document that keeps people from stealing your ideas for their own gain, or something like that) and it is currently pending, meaning in the process of being approved.
Though I could be oblivious to an alternate meaning of patten pended lol.

Yeah! And what is it with all these cheesy, loud, obnoxious t.v. spokespeople who all seem to have Australian accents? What? Since Billy Mays died, they can’t find American or Canadian spokespersons who are cheesy, loud and obnoxious??? They even have to send THAT job over-seas too???? Bah!

I predict that Andrea will show up at Todd´s place sooner or later, probably unannounced.

Either something will happen between her and Selkie that´ll help Todd and her get together again, or she´ll be so freaked up by Selkie´s appearance that she´ll stop bothering Todd. So, I figure, a win either way. ^_^

Although, her being pregnant with Todd´s child would be a nice twist, too…

Well, we already saw the potential once so far – when Todd and Selkie came home with the groceries. There was a reason Todd quietly freaked out on realizing that his door was open when it had been closed (and presumably locked) before they left on the shopping trip – and there’s a reason he told Selkie to stay outside and, if he called for help, to run to the neighbor’s apartment and have her call 911.

One of the worst fights I ever had with my husband started out innocently enough… and then he told me to “just calm down.” Needless to say, things didn’t go well for him, so I understand what you mean.

Yeah, invalidating someone’s anger is not the way out of an argument. More like kicking a can of soda down a flight of stairs and expecting to be able to sip from it afterwards…

As someone who procrastinates and doesn’t handle confrontations well, I can sympathize with Todd. Still, it looks like this one isn’t gonna go away. And with Selkie in his life now… better bite the bullet and get it over with.

At my previous job I used to call people after going door-to-door handing out promotional raffle tickets for quarterly and daily drawings. I’m basically calling them to tell them they won something (provided by a free demonstration of the product), and they still got pissed 80%-90% of the time. It’s like, “Hey! You just won something, FOR FREE, and you still have a chance of winning A THOUSAND DOLLARS! FOR FREE! Why are you angry at me??!?!”

As for this Andrea character… I predict nasty crazy obsessive and potentially violent and/or abusive ex nastiness and drama to come…

Because I like my peace and quiet and I was working on something important.
Also your company is telling me that I got something for “FREE!!” because they expect to make that money back somehow. So I got interrupted and now I have to be very carful not to get ripped off. Unasked for interactions are no fun even if the instigator thinks they are doing you a favor.

Fortunately at least here (dunno about how it is in the States), you can tell the whatever parent company that, say, magazine subscription sellers are calling you for, that you want your phone number to be removed from their calling lists… and if you get calls from the telemarketers selling said subscriptions afterwards, you can technically (not sue, this isn’t USA) get them in trouble for breaking the ban. Well, at least the person calling you will get in trouble after the parent company gets a nudge from the officials overseeing said ban lists.

(It’s getting to be half past midnight as I write this, and my ability to translate not words but difficult socio-economical constructs into not just another language but into another kind of cultural mindset diminishes as I grow more tired, so if the above explanation made no sense, please let me know. :-P)

Yeah, you can do that in the US, but it lasts for about two years and then you have to re-sign up on the “Do Not Call” list. Grr. This leads many Americans to ONLY have a cell phone, with the idea that you don’t get telemarketing calls on cell phones.

You do not have to re-signup on the national do-not-call list any more. It is now permanent.

The REAL problem is the ones who still call you anyway. There are too many loopholes.

#1) “Charitable organizations” can call you – whether you’re on the list or not. The problem is, of course, that not all “charitable organizations” are honest and actually real charities.

#2) Political parties and candiates can call you whether you’re on the list or not. An absolute nightmare around any election time.

#3) A company you already have a “relationship” with can call you whether you’re on the list or not (I really should have copied that phrase to my clipboard so I could just paste it). The problem is, that “relationship” is not well defined and is open to interpretation – by the company.

#4) Dishonest companies and/or telemarketers, scammers, ID thieves and so on … will call you regardless. If it’s a “real” company, you can tell them to not call you. If they continue you can report them to the Federal Trade Commission (U.S. only) at; https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx (there is a link on the left for filing a complaint).

Of course, the dishonest companies, ID thieves, scammers and so on, pretty much don’t care whether you tell them not to call or if you complain. These are the people that make it so hard for “honest” telemarketers (such as real charites and so forth). Personally, I only get angry with them when they call back after I’ve told them to remove me from their lists. Working in law enforcement may have jaded me, but I don’t feel I can really trust any of them. I do feel sorry for the honest ones … it’s a crappy way to make a living.

Another loophole that I have personally worked in: Survey Research calls are legally allowed due to the fact they are not selling anything. Which is the key bit as I understand it; the Do Not Call list only legally applies to telemarketers that are selling a product. That’s why we were specifically instructed to say “This is not a sales call and I am not trying to sell you anything; we are performing a research study about the shopping habits of Illinois consumers”.

Heh, political advertising via phone is not allowed over here, and unless you’ve signed up for some charitable purpose, they can’t call you either. (And I would say the majority of people here have cell phones rather than landlines. Telemarketers find you anyway, unless you tell them to stop. :-P)

I think she sounded like she was going through some sort of emotional roller-coaster… as she probably would if she just found it she´s expecting her ex-boyfriend´s child. And I don´t think “By the way, honey, I´m pregnant and, yes, it´s yours, so please answer the phone” is not the kind of message you leave on a voice mail.

That’s… that’s how old I am… granted I have a kid, but still that seems like an odd age to be to choose to adopt. It does make his music choices make a little more sense though. XD Still, I kind of assumed he was at least thirty (yeah, I didn’t do think about the Jurassic Park thing.)

You’re not the only one. Until Todd’s mom used “she”, I was totally under the impression (and wishing it to be so) that the person that kept calling Todd was his former boyfriend. Maybe she used to be a he? XD

I realize this is a bit late to reply but, if I remember correctly (I’m not looking for it as its after midnight right now) Dave spells her name as Andi (female spelling for most cases) vs Andy (male spelling for all cases I’ve seen).

Although, given how they are still inter-changeable, that nagging doubt about gender was still there.

As a man that has dealt with a stalker ex, it’s not always you’re the daddy. Sometimes the ex just can’t let go. That’s what mine did. In my case it took me sitting down and destroying her emotionally before she finally got the point. I don’t suggest it for everyone, but sometimes you have to tell an ex of either gender that they’re fired before they get the damn point.

Personally I forsee Andrea becoming an antagonist, much like Amanda. Perhaps if she’s the veritable “crazy ex” she’ll blame Selkie rather than herself or Todd for the collapse of the relationship. I know that doesn’t make any sense but we are talking crazy ex here lol.

Or, she’ll be jealous of Selkie at first, thinking that she’s an obstacle, then sit down with her and get to know her. Grudging allies is always fun, but we do need an antagonist about now. The closest we have to true antagonists are the kids in the orphanage and they’re just friends of Selkie.

I think if what she had to say was important enough she would leave a voice mail, at the very least to prove she is not a crazy stalker girl that just broke up with the guy she left him for because he wanted kids and she wanted to be free to live her life and enjoy what she can before feels she has to settle down with a family.

Hopefully she isn’t stuck in some abusive relationship and doesn’t know where to turn for help except to him.

Okay going back through the archive, and showing my wife at the same time, it looks like she is leaving messages, though she does sound a bit crazy stalker-ish. And I am sticking with the she didn’t want kids and he did angle, for now.

The “she didn´t want kids and he did” idea is supported by Todd applying for adoption shortly after breaking up with Andi – the initial visit to the orphanage was 4 months ago, while they broke up “almost half a year” ago, meaning that there are less than 2 months between both events. To me this looks that he decided to about about as soon as he was over the heartbreak.
Though, if she found out now that she´s pregnant, she might figure that this is exactly the thing to help her get Todd back…

I used to work for a shoe company. People ask to be sent catalogues, we sent them, and then the people called in and ordered the shoes. Pretty standard…

…But there is nothing on this planet so crushing to spirit as being the person who answers the phone at 9pm on a Friday night only to find that someone has nothing better to do than to try and pick you up… except being the person who answers the phone, and it’s a kid on the other end, who just wants to talk to someone because they’re lonely, so they stole Gramma’s cell and called the number on a shoe catalogue to try and have some human contact. And they ask you everything they can think of about shoes and you have to answer because they haven’t done anything worth either ending the call or getting the supervisor to end the call…

I got that a lot while working for the cable company. Lot of elderly people who call in and wait in queue just to talk to someone about their day. I never knew what to say except smile nod and “oh that’s rough”.

Ah … but being the call taker for catalog sales isn’t the same as being a telemarketer. The people who call you generally WANT to talk to you. When a telemarketer calls you at home, on Sunday afternoon in the middle of your dinner to tell you that you’ve won a fabulous prize in a contest you never entered … I seriously doubt that you WANT to talk to THEM.

And, as for people calling because they’re lonely … try being a police dispatcher …

I am curious, in a situation like that is action taken against the false complaint? On the one hand I feel kind of bad for someone who calls 911 just to get a visitor or a friendly voice, but on the other hand they are potentially delaying or denying assistance for people who really DO need medical assistance. Plus there is always the “cry wolf” problem where they may need help but everyone thinks they are just playing games again.

I worked at a survey call center for a year and a half. California was by far the worst state to call. People from New York City were more polite (and I could actually got most of them to do the surveys).

Having a cosmopolitan accent helps a lot. And the ability to mimc the accent of whatever area you’re calling and having “your accent slip” from time to time also helps.